[Mister_Snuggles]

Once you factor in employer-paid benefits, pension, etc, the employer's cost is something like 140% of the employee's gross pay. This turns the $84,000 into a $60,000 gross salary.

If you include other costs, like the office space and equipment used by the employee, it starts to sound pretty reasonable.

[JohnBooty]

So true! Also, in most organizational structures, every X employees will need one manager, which is also a cost that needs to be factored into the cost of hiring an employee.